ANNAPOLIS — A bipartisan group of Maryland lawmakers is pushing legislation to give inspectors general easier access to government documents, removing a barrier that some say has hampered investigations into waste and inefficiency at the local level.
Delegates Vaughn Stewart, a Montgomery County Democrat, and Ryan Nawrocki, a Baltimore County Republican, are sponsoring a bill that would exempt inspectors general from having to file Maryland Public Information Act requests to obtain documents.
Nawrocki said the current system is putting investigators at a disadvantage.
Lawmakers want watchdogs to have better access to government records
"Essentially now they're being treated as if they're just a regular person as to being told to stand in line to wait for documents to come back through a Public Information Act request, and sometimes those documents are coming back with nearly the entire document significantly redacted to the point where the investigations cannot occur," Nawrocki said.
Stewart said the fix is straightforward.
"The bill is very simple. It just exempts inspectors general from the MPIA. This is consistent with essentially our intent when we set up these IG offices to begin with. IGs have saved taxpayers millions of dollars collectively. We want them to be able to do their job," Stewart said.
The issue has surfaced in several counties. Baltimore City Inspector General Isabel Cumming filed a lawsuit against Baltimore City after the mayor's office blocked her from viewing documents.
Nawrocki said the stakes go beyond rooting out criminal activity.
"That often they don't find necessarily even fraud that that might be a criminal concern, but they find a lot of waste or inefficiencies that could really make governments much more efficient. And look, we're in tough budget times right now, not only at the state level, but at the county levels, and we should be as mindful as possible to make sure that we're using every dollar as effectively and as efficiently as possible," Nawrocki said.
The bill has bipartisan support, but Senate President Bill Ferguson said with only half of the 90-day session remaining, it may not pass as introduced.
"So we want our inspector generals to be making sure that dollars are spent effectively and efficiently, and we want to make sure that they have the appropriate powers. And so there is a line between total access to all information and no access that's only on request, and I think we're trying to figure out what is the in-between and the appropriate policy construct that inspector generals have some information by default and then others that is provided with good cause," Ferguson said.
Ferguson is looking for a stopgap solution this session, with a permanent fix to follow after lawmakers have more time to study the issue.
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